The Government of Japan strives to collaborate with universities on a broad range of intellectual aspects of the overall socio-economic development of developing countries, namely theorizing and transmitting unique Japanese philosophies of development cooperation, practicing such development cooperation philosophies, teaching the lessons learned from the development field to the Japanese community, and developing human resources for international cooperation. In addition, as part of these efforts, the Government of Japan facilitates “International brain circulation” through exchanges and joint research of students and researchers from developing countries and Japan. In fact, the Government of Japan successfully promotes projects under technical cooperation, yen loans, the JICA Partnership Program (JPP), and so forth in collaboration with various universities.

To give an example, for the purpose of training highly competent professionals who can play a central role in the socio-economic development of their home countries, the Government of Japan accepts junior government officers from developing countries as international students at Japanese universities through the Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS). To date, the number of universities accepting students has reached a cumulative total of 41. In FY2022, Japan accepted more than 300 students from 19 countries, and the cumulative number of JDS Fellows enrolled in the master’s or doctoral programs in Japan has exceeded 5,700 (see “Stories from the Field 5” for networking among JDS Fellows and their activities in Mongolia). Furthermore, Japan supports the socio-economic development of advanced engineering professionals from ASEAN countries whose industrial structures and business activities continue to advance, through strengthening the network among Japanese and ASEAN-based universities, promoting collaboration between universities and the industrial sector, and supporting joint research within the region and in Japan under the ASEAN University Network/Southeast Asia Engineering Education Development Network (AUN/SEED-Net) ProjectGlossary as well as with the dispatch of experts.

In addition, MOFA and JICA implement the “Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) program,”Note 13 in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED). Under the SATREPS program, international joint studies between universities and research institutions in Japan and those in developing countries are being conducted (see Part III, Section 1 (2) for the results, and “Master Techniques from Japan to the World” for assistance in Malaysia).

JICA collaborates with Japanese universities to implement the “JICA Development Studies Program,” which provides master’s and doctoral students from developing countries with an opportunity to learn about the development history of Japan. In order to scale similar efforts overseas, JICA also implements the “JICA Chair” program to support the establishment of “Japanese Studies” courses at top universities in developing countries. Additionally, working with the Open University of Japan, JICA has launched online lecture initiatives, such as the production of the “Japanese Modernization Lecture Series” program, which systematically presents the history of Japanese modernization and the importance of international cooperation.

These partnerships with universities contribute to improving the capacity of academics in developing countries to provide solutions to development issues and to promoting international understanding toward Japan. They also support the internationalization of Japanese universities by providing opportunities for international scholars’ training and research activities.

1. Note 13: See the glossary.

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